If a person comes to the mosque on Friday and finds that the (Jumu’ah) prayer has already ended, but he finds one man who still has one rak’ah to pray, and he prays with him, should he complete his prayer as Jumu’ah [two rak’ahs] or Zuhr [four rak’ahs]?
Praise
be to Allaah.
He has to complete it as Zuhr, because
the Jumu’ah prayer is over. You can catch it up with one rak’ah if you
catch up with the second rak’ah prayed with the imaam, then you can
pray it as Jumu’ah. But if you do not come until after the salaam or
after the second rak’ah, during the Tashahhud or when the imaam is prostrating
in the second rak’ah, then you should not pray it as Jumu’ah, but rather
as Zuhr, because the Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Whoever catches up
with one rak’ah of Jumu’ah, let him add one more to it and his prayer
will be complete.” (Narrated by al-Tirmidhi, 482; al-Nasaa’i, 554; Ibn
Maajah, 1113). The meaning of this hadeeth is that if he only catches
up with less than a rak’ah then he has not caught up with Jumu’ah so
he has to pray it as Zuhr. This is what is prescribed in Islam. If he
catches up with a person who is making up the rak’ah that he missed,
and prays with him, then he should pray it as Zuhr and not as Jumu’ah.
It should also be noted that this should be after the sun has passed
its zenith. But if Jumu’ah prayer was offered before the sun reached
its zenith, he should not pray Zuhr until after the sun has passed its
zenith, because it is permissible to pray Jumu’ah before the sun reaches
its zenith, in the “sixth hour”, according to the correct scholarly
view. But it is preferable and more on the safe side to pray it after
the sun has passed its zenith, as is the view of the majority of scholars.
But in the case of Zuhr, it is not permissible to pray it until after
the sun has passed its zenith, according to the consensus of the Muslims.
And Allaah is the Source of Strength.
